After a six-year hiatus from acting, Jared Leto's return to
the screen as the HIV-positive transgender woman Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club
earned him a Critics' Choice Award, a Golden Globe win and an Oscar nomination.

But not everyone is impressed with the 30 Seconds to Mars
frontman's turn. Some criticized Leto for taking a role they believe
should have gone to a transgender actor. And plenty of people raised their eyebrows when the actor-rocker spoke of summoning his "inner tranny" for the role
in a Daily Beast interview. (FYI: It's only fair to point out that Leto didn't
introduce the slur into the conversation—he was repeating the phrase back to a
reporter.)

Tuesday night in Santa Barbara, Leto answered his detractors head-on when one of his critics lashed
out at him in public during a Q&A about his lauded performance as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club.

“You don’t deserve an
award!” someone shouted at Leto as he took the stage. "Trans misogyny does
not deserve an award!" The "City of Angels" singer
stopped the sit-down conversation and asked his heckler to clarify the
critique.

"Because I’m a man, I don’t deserve to
play that part?" Leto countered. "So you would hold a role against
someone who happened to be gay or lesbian—they can't play a straight
part?"

Given that most of the audience members
weren't Newsweek writers, they applauded Leto's logic. The Dallas Buyers
Club actor continued: "Then you've made sure people that are
gay, people that aren't straight, people like the Rayons of the world would
never have the opportunity to turn the tables and explore parts of that art."

Leto
went on to say his major inspiration for playing Rayon was a 14-year-old German boy he
met on tour with 30STM who had been born a girl. "To me, I thought [this movie] was an opportunity to put a
different kind of character on screen."

After the Q&A ended, Leto asked the heckler backstage and
the two reportedly had a "cordial conversation" for about 15 minutes.

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